Pay-TV prices in OECD countries driven down by promotional activity

Report also shows significant differences in pay-TV prices even between providers in the same country

0

SHARES

Pay-TV viewers in countries belonging to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are seeing prices going down due to an increase in promotional activity.

The Teligen division of Strategy Analytics has released a new report; Pay TV prices in OECD countries, May 2017; which also shows significant differences in pay-TV prices even between providers in the same country.

Strategy Analytics reviewed the prices and contents of nearly 1900 pay-TV offers for 115 providers in 31 OECD countries. The report found, when selecting the most basic set of user requirements, without specific requirements for content or technical capabilities like HD or recording, the ten countries with lowest prices are Poland, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Denmark, Austria, Australia, Slovak Republic and Slovenia.

It says the average price of the cheapest basic pay-TV package tracked is declining by -1.3 per cent compared to November 2016 and suggests the price decline is due to an increase of promotional activity.

Even among the cheapest offers per country there are pay-TV packages that include more advanced properties like HD and recording. The range of offers may vary significantly between providers.

For the most basic requirements the average monthly price across the 31 countries is US$/PPP 21.73 including VAT/tax, down from $22.02 six months ago. This does not include the TV License fee found in many countries.

Teligen Benchmarking consultant Edouard Bouffenie said: "Pay-TV remains a very competitive market with, on one hand, some operators running deep price promotions, introducing stripped down packages with less channels to attract or retain customers, and on the other hand, other operators are offering pay-TV bundled with fixed broadband to provide further technological capabilities adding value to their offers and adapting to new ways of watching TV.